The Gaza Civil Defense Authority announced on Saturday that Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians on Friday, despite a ceasefire, who were passengers on a bus that allegedly crossed the so-called Yellow Line. TASR reports this, according to a report by the AFP agency.

• Israeli troops kill nine Palestinians behind the Yellow Line.
• The incident occurred during a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
• The victims were members of a family traveling on a bus.
• The Israeli army claims that the vehicle posed an imminent threat.
• Similar incidents have occurred several times during the ceasefire.

Israeli troops withdrew behind the so-called Yellow Line

The AFP agency explains that, under a ceasefire agreement between Israel and the militant Hamas movement, Israeli troops withdrew behind the so-called Yellow Line, while still controlling approximately half of the Gaza Strip.

"Civil Defense officers found nine bodies yesterday after an Israeli attack on a bus carrying displaced people," said Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for the Gaza Civil Defense Authority, adding that they were all members of one family and had come across the yellow line"to check their home."

Israel: Soldiers first fired warning shots, but the vehicle continued to approach and pose a threat

The Israeli military said in response that it had identified the vehicle behind the yellow line, where it was not allowed to operate under the ceasefire agreement with Hamas. “The troops fired warning shots towards the suspicious vehicle, but it continued to approach the soldiers in a manner that posed an imminent threat to them,” the army said. “The units opened fire with the aim of eliminating the danger in accordance with the (ceasefire) agreement,” it added.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is in its second week, but several similar incidents have been reported around the Yellow Line since it began. The AFP agency recalls that as a result of the ceasefire, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are coming to the northern Gaza Strip in an attempt to return to their often destroyed homes.